Yesterday was a big news day for the agency world. Two big account wins were revealed Tuesday afternoon, a rare occurrence in a year that’s seen fewer new assignments with business activity seemingly frozen in time.

Scotiabank hands the reins over to Rethink

Scotiabank announced that it will move its creative account to Rethink in the early months of 2021, officially ending its 20-year partnership with another Toronto independant agency, Bensimon Byrne.

The bank released a statement Tuesday with CMO Laura Curtis Ferrera thanking Bensimon Byrne for helping to shape the Scotia brand since winning the account in 2000. Bensimon was responsible for its long-standing and award-winning “You’re Richer Than You Think” platform, and helped the bank with the difficult task of marketing the renamed Scotiabank Arena, which also led to industry accolades.

Ferrera cited Rethink’s “innovative and strategic thinking and strong track record of creative success” as reasons for selecting the creative shop during a thorough review of the account. “It was obvious from this process that Canada has a deep well of creative talent,” added Ferrera, referring to the crop of shops that took part in the selection.

“We’ve long admired Scotiabank and the role they play in the lives of Canadians,” said Rethink MP and COO Caleb Goodman, in a statement to strategy. “Getting to know the passionate group of marketers at Scotia only cemented our desire to work together.”

BRP hitches a ride with M&H

Hybrid creative-production agency M&H will begin working in a more official capacity with Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) from here on out.

The recreational vehicle brand formalized a partnership that’s been in the making for the last few months. The Montreal-based shop said that it will form a team of 12 to 17 M&Hers dedicated to the account.

The unit will work exclusively on BRP campaign launches and adaptations, according to the agency, and the partnership will extend over the next three years.

With ad spend in flux as a result of economic constraints, M&H says its flexible employee model — where the number of talent on any given project fluctuates depending on a clients’ needs and budget — is one of the reasons BRP chose the agency as a creative content partner.

“To ensure our campaigns stand out and draw attention, they must be executed with great care and often within extremely tight deadlines,” says Jérémi Doyon-Roch, department lead of strategic planning and global marketing services for BRP. “This reality demands remarkable agility from our teams and external partners, and M&H has been unwavering in this regard since the beginning of our relationship.”

While M&H will handle BRP content creation duties, Anomaly Toronto remains the creative and strategic AOR across all of the BRP brands, having been awarded the business in 2017.